Ball rocketing and catching device



'n.- 25 1927. Ja 6 J. H. FRENCH BALL ROCKETING AND CATCHING DEVIQE Filed March 25, 1926 Mz IHTREQH A Hom/w43 Patented Jan. Z5, 1927.

UNITED STATES JAMES HARVEY FRENCH, OF NORTHFIELD, OHIO.

BALL ROCKETING .AND CATCHING DEVICE.

Application :filed March 25, 1926.

My invention relates to games and toys,

and consists of a ball rocketing and catching apparatus which is very simply constructed, all substantially as herein shown and described and'more particularly pointed out in the claim. The device is designed to be held in the hand and has an open cup to hold a ball B, which ball may be propelled vertically out of the cup at the will of the player, and then caught within the cup upon descending, a feat requiring practice and skill inasmuch as the cup is relatively small and embodies curved side pieces of spring metal tending to create rebound of the ball.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device with a ball in place therein, and the rocketing plunger lowered. Fig. 2 is a sectional view with the plunger raised and projecting into the open cup. Fig. 3 is a top View, and Fig. 4, a bottom view of the device with a ball therein. Fig. 5 is a side View of the sheet metal blank from which the device is made. Thus, in producing the device a flat sheet metal blank 2 of rectangular form is slitted lengthwise at one end on parallel lines to provide a plurality of straight arms 3 of equal length which ma be bent on curved lines eventually to pro uce an open cage or cup 4 when the main body 6 of blank 2 is rolled to form a round tubular handle. Lateral projections 7 extend from one side edge of the blank at the base of arms 3 and at the bottom end of the blank, and these lateral projections are adapted to overlap one edge of the tube and to be soldered or Iotherwise aflixed thereto, with the straight edges 8 8 of the blank spaced apart their full length to provide a slot 9 lengthwise in one side of the tubular handle. Projections 7 close the opposite ends of this slot, and the be tom edge of blank 2 is formed Serial No. 97,210.

with V-shaped serrations or tongues 10 which are bent inwardly at right angles to the side of the tube, thereby closing the bottom of the tube itself and providing a seat for a coiled compression spring 11 which may be inserted into the upper open end -of the tube at the bottom of cup or cage 4. A round plunger 12 is seated against the upper end of the spring, and a wire pin 14 passes through slot 9 into this plunger, thereby confining the plunger for reciprocable movement within the tube. When plunger 12 is depressed by linger engagement with pin 14 it may be shifted laterally into a notch 15 in one side edge 8 of slot 9, thereby locking the plunger in a retired position within the tube. Rubber ball B, when at rest within cup 4, will be struck forcibly by plunger' 12 when it is released,

that is, when pin 14 is pressed laterally bythe thumb while the tube is gripped in the operators hand, thereby ejecting and rocketing the ball to a considerable height. The player then seeks to catch the ball in the cup which is made diicult because the cup is an open spring cage bordered by a circular wire ring 16 which passes through the curled ends 17 of the radial arms to tie all the arms together What I claim is:

A ball rocketing and catching device, comprising a tube having integral arms at one end bent radially outward and upward and looped at their outer extremities around a wire ring to provide an yopen cage adapted to hold a ball, said tube having a slot in its side and closed at its lower end and being open at its upper end to said cage, a plunger and spring within said tube, and a member extending from said plunge through said slot. v

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

JAMES HARVEY FRENCH. 

